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Lots of my friends who are applying for jobs at large companies are just shocked what they have to do to get hired. Just filling out the application online takes at least an hour. Then if they are brought in for an interview, it is not like the good old days where you would chat with the hiring manager for 45 and get an offer a few days later. Instead applicants to large organizations for professional office jobs need to participate in an all day assessment center. You'll now be tested on your communication, problem solving and team working skills. It's all day and very challenging, and few will survive the process.
Here is a link to the next big thing in professional hiring, so you can prepare. What do you think?
Might be better than an interview process with 4 or 5 steps?
Many large organizations have a very difficult time terminating employees that are a bad fit or under-performing, due to ungainly documentation processes. As a manager, gone are the days I could just toss a box on someone's desk and tell them to pack it and go. Now I have to go through a 4 step process that can take 120-180 days just to get rid of someone.
yeah, honestly i'd rather spend one long day getting it all over with instead of going back over and over (which always meant taking another day off work, every time, for me) and then waiting to hear about the next step. i can also see the point of testing skills as well as having people interview with people at different levels.
and "few will survive the process" - that's kinda the way it is with every hiring process, no matter what the method. for every job opening, dozens or even hundreds apply but only one gets all the way through!
that being said, my longest interview was a couple of hours. multiple sets of interviewers, but no testing. and as i've said before, i've had over 30 interviews in the last 8 months. so while i know that this kind of interview process does exist, it's by no means common.
Assessment centers have been around for decades, so they are nothing new. More places might be using them but it is not a new concept.
The article said they started right after WW2, but now they are more common because the companies have determined that applicants will put up with difficult application processes for interviews and organizations are learning that just because someone interviews well that does not mean they will be a great employee. There is a logic in assessment centers but they are extremely challenging for job applicants.
The article said they started right after WW2, but now they are more common because the companies have determined that applicants will put up with difficult application processes for interviews and organizations are learning that just because someone interviews well that does not mean they will be a great employee. There is a logic in assessment centers but they are extremely challenging for job applicants.
Anyone have any experience with them?
I have had an assessment test for my last two jobs, and I am glad I had them.
Wouldn't you rather find out you aren't cut out for the job during an assessment test instead of being fired in a few months? A test being extremely challenging isn't an issue to me. If my job wasn't challenging, I would try to find a new job.
Assessment centers have been around for decades, so they are nothing new. More places might be using them but it is not a new concept.
Yup, they have been around forever.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justhiremenow
The article said they started right after WW2, but now they are more common because the companies have determined that applicants will put up with difficult application processes for interviews and organizations are learning that just because someone interviews well that does not mean they will be a great employee. There is a logic in assessment centers but they are extremely challenging for job applicants.
Anyone have any experience with them?
I have helped develop and been involved in them. They are essentially mini job simulations. A day-in-the-life experience. You typically only see them used for director to executive level because of the price (they typically cost 5-10k to administer if it is a good assessment center involving actors and multiple raters throughout the day). Now if you apply for an organization that actually makes the ACs they may give it to lower levels. I have seen consulting firms give it to their applicants for consulting roles as well.
Although I have seen organizations that are developing online assessment centers using an outlook format where you receive several emails and phone calls and have to respond to issues that arise throughout the day. It is a cheaper alternative to a full blown assessment center.
I think this is on the rise, but not sure it's all that new. My current job at a large company that I got ten years ago required 2 days worth of all day interviews
I think they've been around for quite some time. I took one that lasted all afternoon. I guess I did badly since I never got a call back, but I've heard that once you pass the exams, you still have to come in for 3-4 more interviews until you reach the higher-ups. It's like an RPG game out there!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Justhiremenow
It's all day and very challenging, and few will survive the process.
That's the whole idea, gathering as much information as possible in order to limit the selection to the few best people, eliminating people that lie or exaggerate on their resumes, or don't have the interpersonal or leadership skills required for a job. At places where I have worked this has been done for management positions as far back as the 1980s, when I did one requiring writing reports and memos, budget analysis, and a "group discussion" with all 25 applicants on a controversial business decision that had to be made.
In some very specialized kinds of jobs this and other work sample projects will always exist, in others it's simply a way of reducing the applicant pool.
The fact that someone posts what comes off as a complaint here is evidence that some people will say
"no way I'm doing that" and it may reduce the numbers from 200 to 30. There will also be others that might have applied even though they didn't really meet the requirements, but will think otherwise when faced with a daunting test. I would expect the process for most jobs to be more simplified again in the future if it ever gets back to the worker shortages we saw in the 1990s. Big if.
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